The Summit Project: Ragnarok's Call
by Origm2012
Summary: Ragnarok's Call had once thrived in Northern Fiore as a force to be reckoned with, but around a decade ago they took to the shadows. With the emergence of a new guild in the Valley, their leader feels it's time to remind the people of Fiore how fearsome they can be. Part of the Summit Project, a collaboration between MyDearWatson, Raiyane, Origm2012 and Dreadburner94.
1. If they Need a Reminder

**August 15th, X799, Evening, One of Fiore's northern roads**

A young woman's dark blue eyes pierced through the night to follow her target. It had been a long time since she'd decided to take a mission for herself, but seeing as this mission was no more than an observation, it was really just an excuse to take an exceptionally long walk and clear her mind.

She raced through the shadowy coverage cast by the trees after her target. It had been years since Grace had succeeded her predecessor and taken the reins as guild master, but being back in the field made her body move on instinct. Without any thought, the raven haired woman reflexively leapt from branch to branch. Each step registering as no more than a bump in the night, so as to not alert her prey to Grace's location.

Grace closed in on her target and just as a tinge of magenta hair came into view, its owner stopped, forcing Grace to come to a halt on a branch. A thought crossed Grace's mind, could she have gotten rusty enough that a brat could detect her. She perched herself on the branch and waited for the woman to continue walking and after a moment she did.

A sinister smile crossed the pale skinned woman's face. "I could kill you right now, brat," she hissed. "I could take your life and end this before it even begins."

Grace stood to her feet, an air of arrogance emanating from her, and continued to count the ways in which the mage walking ahead of her could die.

A fierce wind blew through the branches and ruffled her clothes forcing her to wrinkle her nose as she began fixing everything back in place. She straightened her pale, blue button up dress shirt that fell to her thighs. It had been left unbuttoned, revealing her bosom and midsection while still remaining decent, and had its sleeves rolled up. It was tied off around her waist with a black sash and she wore black tights under black and blue cargo pants and black boots.

The last thing to gain her attention was the locket she wore around her neck. A silver locket bore the mark of the guild that was her family. A mark comprised of a dark filled in circle with seven broken circles surrounding it. She adjusted the locket a half a dozen times and then decided it was fine.

The locket was the first thing she'd received from her old master and was a milestone that marked her entrance into this world. Her guild, Ragnarok's Call, had become the central underlying force of the activities that truly drove the world. If someone needed something that was forbidden, Ragnarok's Call was the one who acquired. They were the ones providing the black markets that were scattered around Northern Fiore, more commonly known as the Valley. They were the ones developing magic and weapons that found their way into the hands of criminals. They were the ones who a decade prior had struck fear in the hearts of the citizens of the Valley.

But it was this very notoriety that had forced Grace's hand. She had no choice, but to bring Ragnarok's Call from the forefront of nefarious activities to a role more similar to that of a puppeteer. They had their hands in just about everything, but there was very little means of tying it back to them and even less of a chance of tracking them down.

With her clothes adjusted, Grace's eyes found her target once more. The mage was still blissfully unaware and one of Grace's rare arrogant thoughts crossed her mind.

" _I'm still the Void,"_ she thought before continuing aloud. "But if I was to strike her down now, there'd be no fun to have."

Grace silently hustled through the trees after the woman once more. Grace simply wanted to get a glimpse of the city that would house the arrogant brat's guild. In the years since Ragnarok's Call had become as quiet as they were nefarious, people seemed to have forgotten how truly treacherous they were and to top it off, her intel said that the Summit Alliance had admitted another guild to their ranks.

When the news first reached Grace that another guild was opening up in the Valley, she thought it was a joke. Who could possibly think that action would go unnoticed? Had Ragnarok's Call really become such an afterthought that no one openly feared them any longer? This wouldn't stand. It couldn't. Grace's opinion on how things worked differed from her old master a bit, but one thing was for sure, when the people stop fearing you they come to believe they can go against you.

But even so, Grace couldn't seem to find anything truly outstanding about the woman. Intel said that she had some roots here in the Valley, but Grace didn't feel any overwhelming power from the mage. So as the woman neared a town called Poppy Village, Grace became more and more infuriated. Something which was out of character for her and as someone who had been an assassin for many years, that overbearing lust for blood was best kept under control otherwise even the simplest prey would notice it.

As Grace leapt from tree to tree, that very same thought crossed her mind and she instinctively grabbed hold of a device in her pockets. Less than a moment later, the very woman who she had been silently cursing as simple and unimpressive whipped her head in Grace's direction. Grace was certain that the woman had noticed her presence and although she was furious at herself for having gotten sloppy, a peculiar thing happened. That sinister smile crossed her face once more. She stayed perfectly still her eyes locked on the woman hoping that the device in her hand would fail and the woman would see her. That way there'd be no way to avoid a confrontation, but Grace knew better. After a few moments passed with the mage scanning in every direction for the source of the malice, she turned on her heel and continued walking until she was out of Grace's sight.

Grace let go of the device in her hand and exhaled a sigh of disappointment. The device she had in her pocket had been specifically designed by her Research Division; a device which allowed one to become nearly invisible to a normal person. It worked on the premise that each of our sensory functions was an extension of the normal magic in our bodies. Each object carried its own signal and by grasping the circular device, one's signal would change to that of the objects in the immediate vicinity, making it nearly impossible to see user. The catch was that it also made the user unable to move.

When Grace had decided that someone from her guild would have to get a glimpse of the guild and its master, many people volunteered, but Grace decided on a whim that she'd do it herself. The Research Division took it as an opportunity to have Grace test one of their devices. She didn't care to do it, but after much pleading on their part she agreed. Now the raven-haired master would be sure to applaud their advancements.

But as she watched the mage walk in to the town many thoughts crossed her mind. One, maybe the woman was a bit more impressive than Grace had been giving her credit. Two, Grace would take sweet pleasure in reminding the people who had seemingly forgotten just how dangerous Ragnarok's Call was. Three, she would have to rely on other measures to learn more about the mage and finally, Grace would make sure that this time, she made the Summit Alliance suffer.

She leapt to the ground and began the long walk back to her guild. The walk was quiet and Grace was left alone with her thoughts for most of it, save for the sound of an animal or two doing their utmost to avoid the dangerous lady walking by them. Grace always admired that. Animals were instinctively born with an idea of what to avoid at all costs. People like her, or her master or even those in the guild were people whose very presence could make the hairs on the back of one's neck stand and yet they were always blissfully unaware of how close to death they were around them.

Grace turned off the path towards the mountains just south of the Valley. Ragnarok's Call was located in a secret base built in innards of the mountains. Finding the base was near impossible and if one did find it, well, that was just poor luck. The previous master had found it hilarious that the people of Fiore named their homes after flowers and trees and sought to name his home after something which would turn all flowers to ash. The Scorch. Since then, this name had become one shrouded in mystery and darkness. She scaled over the treacherous ridges of one of the mountain's cliffs and found herself at a river that ran towards the sea and towards another woman who constantly frustrated her and led another guild.

Grace rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I'll be coming for you," she began before turning to the North. "I'll be coming for all of you. I see now that I was too complacent and I let you all forget who we were. I won't make that mistake again."

Grace walked to a portion of the mountain where the runoff slowly began to feed into the river and waited. There was a cracking noise as the rock split and opened. Before Grace even stepped in, she could feel the weight of a magical sensor scanning her to make sure she was who she was supposed to be.

"Let me in you idiots!" she half-yelled in frustration.

Her anger must have been noted and people could be heard whimpering as they hustled to remove all safety precautions and let her in.

She stepped in and the mages of her Security Division heartily greeted her. She smiled and waved them off before heading towards the building which she resided in. The inside of the hollowed out mountain base provided a dark bluish cavern-like interior that was damp and cool. It took some getting used to, but now it was normal.

"I'm home!" she called and within a moment there were cheers throughout the mountain.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I'm very happy to announce the beginning of a collaboration project that I'm excited to be a part of. The Summit Project. I want to thank Raiyane, MyDearWatson and Dreadburner94 for working with me on this collaboration project. We'll each be working and producing content for stories that operate within the same universe. Understanding the plot will definitely require you to follow all of their stories as well. Here are the titles of those works.

The Summit Project: God Hand by Dreadburner94

The Summit Project: Seahorse Crest by MyDearWatson

The Summit Project: Goblin Grin by Raiyane

The Summit Project: Ragnarok's Call by myself

In advance, I'm going to say there a lot of effort was put into making this as seamless as possible. There are a lot of rules that go into submitting an OC, so be sure to follow those. The first thing to note is that presently, 1 person can only submit 2 OCs to the Universe and there is a further restriction of one to a guild barring some special circumstance. It's important to read all of the stories so that you can decide where you want to send your OCs, but you'll see characters move across the stories as they complete missions and what not.

I don't know why I still crack up when I have to mention this so my apologies if I sound rude, but, we will ONLY accept OCs through privates messages. There is a myriad of reasons for why this is and once more, my apologies if I sound rude, but please just follow this.

Another rule, and this is very important, is that you MUST use the OC Form provided on the profile of the author's story you wish to submit to. So if you want to submit a character to my story, you must use the OC Form on my profile and then submit them to me. If you want to submit a character to MyDearWatson's story, you must use the OC Form on her profile and submit the character to her. The reason for this is that all of the OC Forms are a bit different from each other and have different information in them pertaining to the specific story that they're for. Also, do be aware that we do want to try to avoid having too many characters that are really similar to each other, so we might end up asking for you to change something since all of the characters will have a chance to appear in the other stories.

Now then, for my story specifically, I will be accepting 25 OCs max. Of these 7 will be Elite mages. Now Ragnarok's Call has a lot of 'faceless' members who'll come and go and work behind the scenes. However, there's a much more important dynamic in Ragnarok's Call. I will be using divisions. More in depth information will be given regarding these divisions in the form, but suffice it to say that there are 5 divisions. Combat, Security, Research, Infiltration, and Support. Excluding the security division which will work as a set unit, the other 4 are merely comprised of people whose abilities pertain to that nature. The true hierarchy is set around the 7 elite members leading teams. For example, an elite might be from the Combat division, but lead a team comprised of 2 researchers and an infiltrator. Or an elite might be from the Infiltration division and work with only a support mage.

Now, regarding Slayers, I will only be accepting 1 slayer. If it is a Dragon Slayers, then it must be an artificial 2nd Generation Dragon Slayer. The others have a limit regarding the amount of slayers they will take as well, but more importantly we don't want 3 ice slayers… As such, it's better if the slayer is unique in either its element or its type. This way the chance of overlap is improbable.

The others have towns and as such they have the ability to offer you all the ability to create establishments. I've been racking my brain thinking about how to make something similar possible for the dark guild and the only thing that comes to mind is offering facilities within the mountain. But it's important to note, that we're within a mountain and secrecy is important. Later on, I'll be introducing more black market related things and establishments then will be possible.

The 4 of us are reviewing these characters and we'd prefer to see brand new material. So please refrain from submitting previously created characters.

Each of the creators have their own specific rules, so be sure to adhere to their rules.

On a separate note, many of you knew about this project and wondered what it meant for my other stories. I haven't given up on them and I'll be returning soon. That's all for now.

I'm really glad to be writing again and I very grateful to each of you and to the people on this project.


	2. Max Copperfield's Adventure

**Author's Note:**

Good day everyone. I've got a few notes to update people on as far as OC submission for this project goes, but I'll address most of those at the bottom of this chapter. First and foremost is an issue I think needs immediate attention. I admit, the fault probably lies mostly with me not being clear enough, but Ragnarok's Call is without a doubt a dark guild. I had a few OC submissions which were quite possibly some of the nicest OCs in the world and I'm sure you all can see how that might be an issue. But that comes as a relief in one way. Now to achieve the feeling I fell short of last time, I get to go a little darker. Be sure to tell me if it's too much.

* * *

 **August 16th, X799, Afternoon, The town of Dewberry**

To the East of the Valley lay a mountainous region which had been treacherous long before Ragnarok's Call had taken up residence there. But if one were to go further East, then they'd run into a forest which housed many small villages and towns. One such place was the town of Dewberry.

This was a town which was deep in the forest and as such had always been a common stopping place for traveling soldiers or rune knights. People from all over would pass through the town and more often than not would have only good things to say about the people and the town itself.

Despite residing in the forest, the small town seemed to present a feeling of modernity meets seclusion. There were simple dirt paths which branched off from the singular stone path that ran through the middle of town. Along the dirt paths, many small houses could be found beside slightly bigger buildings which served as family owned businesses such as a bakery, a doctor's office, a deli, and many more. The buildings varied in design from mostly wooden structures to stone structures. Towards the center of the town was the town's largest building. A three story school made of stone. All of the town's children went to school here, with the younger children on the bottom floor and a library on the top floor. The middle floor housed the older kids and this is where one child was currently in the midst of explaining his reason for wanting to leave school.

His name was Max Copperfield. He was 16 and despite having been orphaned from a young age the freckled face boy with shaggy black hair and big brown eyes remained full of life and excitement.

"Please Mr. Manson," cried Max. "I'm ready to go out on my own. I'm ready to meet new people and see new places and have an adventure!"

Mr. Manson, a tired old man whose dress clothes never seemed to button properly, had his eyes glued on Max. He couldn't help, but feel worry for the young man before him. He'd seen Max grow up before his eyes and it was true. Max was brave. He'd leap into any danger to help someone, but Mr. Manson's age brought him experience and the knowledge that there were dangerous people out there that even he couldn't fathom. He was sure that the short, skinny kid who barely had a handle on magic could make it by themselves and yet… He found himself incapable of denying the smile hiding behind Max's crocodile tears.

"Argh," grumbled Mr. Manson. "Fine. You can go. Just make sure to pack suppli…"

With a quick swipe at something hidden under his desk, Max had a short stick with a sack hanging over his shoulder.

A bright smile sprung up onto his face and he ran for the door as he called out to his teacher. "You won't regret this Mr. Manson. I'm gonna join a mages guild and the next time you see me, I'm gonna be so strong it'll blow you away!"

"Yes, yes," grumbled the old man once more. "And it's 'going to'. Not 'gonna'!"

* * *

 **August 16th, X799, Afternoon, A road east of Poppy Village**

Max strolled out onto a road that he was sort of certain would lead to the Valley; a place with some of the strongest guilds in Fiore.

"It's gonna be great!" Max exclaimed to no one as he bounded down the road. "I can't wait to join a guild. But what guild should I join? Will they even accept me? Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. My magic is so cool, they'll be sure to let me in!"

And so he continued on down the path, his childlike innocence allowing him to forget that the journey was likely to take several days and running all the way there wasn't going to happen.

It took no more than a few minutes until that same notion smacked him right in the head and he was forced to stop for a breather.

While he stopped to catch his breath, two rune knights passed by him. He was instantly certain that they were headed to Dewberry. This was common place for him growing up. Often knights would come to town and they'd play with the little kids or tell stories. It made Max happy to see more knights going into the village while he was on his way out. It reassured him even more and so as they passed him, he saluted them and they stopped to chat with him.

They asked if Dewberry was close and if he was traveling alone. He told them he was and how he was going to join a mage's guild when he got to the Valley. After telling him to be safe and to travel as fast as possible, they told him another platoon of knights was likely to pass him on his way then they wished him luck and went on towards Dewberry. A few more minutes passed and Max did the same.

He went over every fantasy he'd had about being a mage. About being a hero. And about being the strongest. Each one seeming like a chapter in a grand adventure that would start the moment he reached the Valley.

He'd been walking for a few hours and as was custom for him when he got excited, which was usually all of the time, he began talking about his dreams aloud. Something which was fine in Dewberry and would be fine anywhere or any time, but the kid from Dewberry with dreams' whose meaning were grander than he could fathom was also the unluckiest.

Just after passing a group of traveling merchants and once more unveiling to the world all he was going to accomplish, two figures in black cloaks, going about their own business, stepped onto the path before him.

Max stopped immediately. He was never nervous around strangers and even with his bright smile maintaining its composure; he couldn't shake the feeling that he should stop moving forward. He should go in any direction, but forward. As fate would have it the two figures had stopped moving forward as well at this point.

And so they stood with their eyes glued on one another and the naïve boy opened his mouth to speak first.

"Hi there," he called. "Are you heading to Dewb-"

"What garbage were you just spouting?" hissed a woman's voice.

It was a tone he was unfamiliar with. He'd never felt such a hatred from a friend, much less a stranger and so he cluelessly tried to explain himself.

"I was talking about all of the great stuff I'll get to do once I join a mage's guild," he responded cheerfully.

"Ooh?" began the woman. "You're a mage, huh?"

"Yup," said Max "My magic is so cool. I'm gonna be one of the strongest mages there ever was!"

There was a moment for Max. A feeling that most people become accustomed to as they grow older; a feeling that they'd made a mistake that would have consequences they could never avoid.

Even with the sunlight fading and the figures in black being a little too far to see clearly. Max was certain he saw the woman smile. Not the smile Mr. Manson gave when Max behaved. Or the smile the baker had when fresh bread was put out. It was a smile that held an emotion he was simply too inexperienced to understand.

The woman felt a moment of excitement that she'd come to truly love. The idea of an interesting magic was a little too much for her to bear. Her companion seemed to notice and with a sigh of frustration he said, "Make this quick Kyula. We have a mission to complete."

The woman named Kyula removed her hood and began walking forward. She came closer to Max and he could see she was older than him. She was a little taller than he was as well and certainly more physically fit. Her skin was brown and her hair was pure white in color and kept in a delicate, practiced fishtail braid reaching the small of her back.

But Max seemed to be more fixated on her dark brown eyes. To him, she was gorgeous. Certainly there were girls his age back home, but the woman before him held that charm that seemed to naturally enrapture men.

Through the part in her cloak, he could tell that she wore a pair of form-fitting navy blue pants with vertical cyan stripes. Her shoes were a plain pair of black boots that tucked under her pants.

His eyes scanned from bottom to top and eventually landed on the sleeveless green top with a deep cut towards her bust, under which she had a black shirt reaching the middle of her forearms.

His eyes landed on her bosom and seemed to fixate for a moment, but he didn't have a chance to catch himself he heard Kyula say, "Eyes up here."

He jumped back in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry!" he half-yelled in an attempt to be heard over Kyula's companion laughing. "I didn't mean to!"

"Never mind that," she said with a quick roll of her eyes. "You were spouting some nonsense about grand adventures, but said something about an interesting magic. I'd like to see it."

The woman's smile seemed genuine and Max finally felt as if he could relax.

" _That's how it is,"_ he thought. _"She just wants to see magic."_

"No problem," he said excitedly. "Just give me a minute to get it ready."

Max stood perfectly still, trying his best to focus on the feelings that had helped him produce his magic for the first time. The truth of the matter was that Max was nowhere near mastering his magic and the few times he had managed to use it properly was following a bout with frustration. And so after a few minutes he had failed to produce even the faintest hint of magic.

"Any day now," Kyula said dryly. "I've got shit to do and I'm starting to lose interest here. Either you have magic or you don't."

"No no no. It's not like that," he said frantically before hanging his head in embarrassment. "I just haven't mastered it fully yet. The last time I got through with using it, the baker needed my help. Plus Mr. Manson says that those with magic have a responsibility to use their skills to help people."

Kyula wrinkled her nose in annoyance.

"How about I kill them then?" she said calmly.

Her words didn't quite register at first and so Max playfully asked, "What'd you say?"

"The people you were talking to before use," began Kyula. "They're not far from here. If I was to try and kill them would you be able to use your magic to stop me?"

"I-I I don't kn… Are you serious?" he finally managed.

Kyula raised her hand from under her cloak and it quickly became coated in a light green crystal material with sharper crystalline blades on the sides.

Without a word she walked past Max and toward the merchants whom he'd spoken to earlier.

"Stop," he said quietly to no avail.

"What are you doing? Stop." he said just a little louder.

"Stop," he shouted and in frustration his magic finally materialized.

Water from the air concentrated in his palm and with all the force he could muster, he hurled the water ball at the woman before him.

On instinct she turned on it and cut it in half, sending both parts to either side of her.

Her face seemed almost emotionless now. "That's it," she began. "That's the 'cool' magic you were going to use on your adventure to be the best mage. Laughable."

She turned away from him and began walking away. This forced her companion to speak.

"Where are you going Kyula?" he asked from where he sat.

She stopped and turned her head to so her eye met Max's. "I told him I was going to kill those people unless he stopped me," began Kyula with a shrug and a devilish grin. "I wouldn't want to be a liar Claude."

Max had already fallen to dejection from how powerless he seemed before the woman. When she had turned to taunt him, he had become certain that was her goal all along, but he was wrong. He knew it now; she would kill them unless he stopped her.

"Arrgh!" yelled Max as he rushed her with water forming in his hand. He tried to force it to collide with her and she sidestepped effortlessly, planting her knee in his gut for added insult.

Max doubled over in pain and as he raised his head to meet her eyes again, her boot connected with his chin launching him back a few feet and onto his back.

"It's disgusting," she said after deep breath. "I know exactly the type of person you are. You reek of stupidity. You know you can't win. You know you can't save them. And you know you're gonna get back up and attack me."

Max gritted his teeth at having been read so easily and forced himself to his feet. He forced water balls into both hands and began launching and replacing them.

Whether or not he heard the crystalline blades or Kyula's voice first, he wasn't sure, but in the instant his barrage lasted, he heard her say, "I'm tired of you." Then the barrages of water stopped. He couldn't figure out why. He was still pushing as much force as possible through his body. He still had to save those people. He had to get passed this moment so that he could begin his grand adventure. So why had the water stopped.

His eyes finally registered the reason and then in an instant his brain registered the pain which correlated with it properly.

Kyula had cut off both of his arms.

He screamed and screamed and screamed, hoping for the moment to be a dream.

"See," Kyula teased. "Bravery will only get you so far."

Before she could go on, the companion by the name of Claude stood to his feet. "You took too long Kyula," he said firmly.

Her eyes seemed to be focused on something in the distance approaching them. "Ugh. You're right. I usually have more time for fun with the rest of the team here though," she said.

"That's not my problem," he added bitterly as he removed his cloak and dropped it on the floor.

Claude was a shorter man at only 5'9". Rigorous training in the sun had brought him a defined muscularity and a light tan. His soft powder blue hair matched his eyes and was kept in a shaggy pompadour style. A tattoo of a pair of oxen horns resided on his left pectoral and a dagger was tattooed on his left Bicep. His loose fitting, white shorts with black trim fell to the middle of his calfs and had the word 'Pixie' along the waist. Dark blue boxing boots met up with the hem of his shorts thick medical tape was wrapped around his midsection and hands for protection Around his waist rested a fighting championship belt with a tigers snarling face making up the massive centerpiece. On his shoulders and arms was a light pair of layered plate metal that matched the triangular pieces of steel going down his spine. His gold guild mark covered up his entire right pectoral.

Before them rode an entire unit of rune Knights, but it was clear that they were without their commanding officer, since the level of magic approaching them was meek at best.

The unit closed in while keeping formation atop their horses.

He breathed deeply before shifting to a fighting stance. "Conditioned Strike," he muttered and a magical circle took shape in front of him.

He began punching the circle mercilessly. His speed and ferocity growing, even as the unit closed in on them and just before they arrived, he struck the circle once more and the collective force rushed forth. Entirely unprepared for the attack, the unit of foot soldiers were all, but decimated.

Those hit by the initial blast were blown apart almost immediately and the force unleashed by the collision had sent every knight to the floor with countless injuries.

They staggered to their feet trying to get an eye on their attackers, but couldn't get seem them clearly because of all the dust forced up by the attack.

But it didn't matter, because in the instant their eyes did adjust, Kyula's crystalline blades would find their targets.

From where Max lay in agony, he watched as a platoon of mages that he was sure would have inspired the children of his home or another town or village with their stories was wiped out instantly.

"Okay, that's all," said Kyula in exasperation.

"Finish playing," added Claude. "We still have a job to do."

"Okay. Okay," said Kyula as she walked over to a distraught Max. Her blade rested just under his chin, her eyes met the despairing look in his and she plunged into him, she said, "It looks like this is the end of your adventure."

* * *

 **August 16th, X799, Evening, Outside Dewberry**

Claude and Kyula left their wake of destruction behind them and moved on towards their target. They had been given a mission separate from the rest of their team, however the pair was anxious to complete it and return to the Scorch, but returning with news failure wouldn't bode well for them.

They walked down the road leading to Dewberry. The mission was quite simple. There had been news of a particular Rune Knight passing through Dewberry and they were to intercept him. Sources had revealed to Grace that he had been looking into a lot of information related to Ragnarok's Call and that couldn't stand. After finding out exactly what he knew, they were to erase him as quietly as possible.

They were nearing the town, but before they arrived they could hear a young man's voice.

"What's taking them so long?" he half-yelled. "The captain told me to wait for them, but they're taking forever. This is why I told him that he shouldn't be so impatient. If we had simply waited for them this morning, I wouldn't be stuck doing the waiting now!"

As he finished yelling, his eyes landed on the two figures approaching him.

Thinking they were no more than Dewberry Citizens, he happily greeted them.

"Hi there!" he called to them. "Your town is lovely. You didn't happen to see any other knights along the road did you?"

"No sir," Kyula coyly responded as she removed her hood.

"Oh. Okay, I really want to get back into town, but I've got to wait on my platoon to arrive before I can return to my captain," said the knight.

"Is your captain in Dewberry?" asked Claude as they neared the man.

"Yeah," began the knight. "It's always so nice th-"

Kyula was already cleaning blood off of her crystalline blade as she and Claude moved past the Rune Knight's falling body.

They arrived on a hill overlooking Dewberry a few minutes later.

"I can't wait to get home," said Claude before they descended on the town.

* * *

 **August 16th, X799, Evening, The Reach**

Grace had left her guild's base of operations and fort, The Scorch. She decided a moment to clear her thoughts and decide once and for all on her guild's course of action was necessary. The last time they were so out in the open, the previous master was guiding them. Afterwards, she had stepped into a role she never intended to be in, forced her guild to step into the shadows and lived within guidelines which she found protected them all.

For her to tell her guild members that they would be heading out once more and to prepare for something which could only truly be defined as war required something more to steel her resolve. She wanted to go to The Reach. It was a place whose design, location and meaning were all chosen by the previous master, but whose current use and management had been chosen under her advisement. It was the very tip of the mountain. The previous master had cleared it away and decided that his mages would train above the sky and so during his time, they fought countless matches with reckless abandon atop the mountain. Away from the eyes of the world and often they'd end up killing their own comrades. This was his way.

Grace was a tad more refined. She'd employed the Research Division to find a means of cloaking the tip of the mountain with a magical barrier around just the arena. Inside it, the conditions were adjustable. One could choose to use the regular mountain peak settings or switch to a more sun burnt arena and so on.

However, getting there was still difficult. After hiking up the perilous mountain side a small staircase, added under Grace's orders, can be found.

For someone like Grace, this hike had become something more of reflexive than anything. She knew every foothold and every danger that lurked as one ascended the mountain. But that wasn't her current problem. Her current problem was the young mage who couldn't help, but tag along even though Grace had told her to stay in the Scorch.

Just as Grace got to the bottom step, she called out to the mage who was trying her best to stay hidden. "You'll have to try much harder to hide from me Violet," she said simply as she began climbing the staircase.

A few seconds passed and the young mage pulled herself up to the bottom staircase.

The pale young girl was no more than 15, but she could easily have passed for much younger. Her dark blue hair fell to the middle of her back loosely while bangs were kept in check with a white bow. A white tank-top was hidden under her long-sleeved grey sweater. Hanging around her neck was a fairly silver necklace with a droplet on the end. Her knee-high socks covered a scar which rested on her knee and her flats matched her sweater.

"I can never play hide and seek with you Master," she whined playfully.

"I was climbing a mountain," began Grace as she prepared for the conversation which was soon to follow. "I wasn't playing hide and seek."

"But on my birthday, you said you would play with me," Violet whispered in her most dejected voice possible.

"Violet. Your birthday was 4 days ago. Why would we still be playing," said Grace. "Now head back down."

"Okay," she whimpered as she turned to climb back down. "I understand Master."

Grace was a hard woman. A woman who could and would kill people if it the moment felt right. And most people wouldn't even think of trying to tug at her long deadened heart strings, but the idea that the little girl beside might actually feel bad, left Grace with a bad feeling.

"Violet, wait," she began. But as she turned around to look at Violet, her eyes met the dark green eyes that could easily melt even the hardest people and she'd known for certain that she was being played. "Whatever, let's just go already."

"Yay!" cheered Violet and the two began the walk upon the Reach's staircase.

It took a little over 5 minutes, but eventually they were at the top. It was blistering cold on the staircase, but inside the Research Division's arena the temperature was still warm and for Grace who had spent countless hours fighting mages in this arena, it almost felt like she'd come home.

She stood at the top of the mountain quietly with Violet beside her.

"You'd do anything for me Violet, wouldn't you?" she more said than asked.

A great smile etched itself on Violet's face before she said, "Of course Master. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

"When I was your age," began Grace. "Someone who I looked at, a lot like you look at me, asked me the same question and I gave the same answer. Then many years down the road, I learned a valuable lesson. Never look at someone like that. You should never want to feel that way about someone. You're a person all by yourself. My master knew the way we felt about him and it didn't matter. He made a lot of choices which brought us to a point of no return and now I've decided to go down a route much like he did. But I'll make one thing clear to you Violet. I will be better than him."

With no real understanding of what her master was saying, Violet sighed and simply said, "I'll follow you Master."

The exchange was then cut short by the appearance of voices being echoed by the mountains.

"Violet," said Grace immediately.

As if on instinct, the blue haired mage reacted. "Enhance: Senses!" she yelled. The voices quickly became clearer.

"We're almost at the top," said one man's voice.

"I hope out equipment holds out," said the next man.

"Don't worry," began the first man. "These lacrima infused tools will hold up on any terrain."

Violet turned to Grace who was waiting to hear who could possibly be approaching the top of the mountain. "It appears some hikers chose the wrong mountain to climb."

Grace pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as she walked over to the edge of the mountaintop "Remind me to give the Security Division an earful when we get back down.

"Yes Master," said Violet. "Should I take care of the men below?"

"No," said Grace. "You said they're using lacrima equipment. Point me in their direction."

Violet pointed out into the nothingness which lay beneath them along the mountainside and with a movement too quick for Violet to see, Grace hurled something in that direction.

The two men were climbing the mountainside using specialized tools that they were sure would help them conquer the mountain despite the deadly terrain, but within a few moments of Grace's throw, their equipment began to fail and slowly, but surely they fell prey to the dangers of the mountain.

The next thing echoed by the mountain was the screams of the men as they fell.

"Go get my tag violet," Grace said before returning to where she stood.

"Yes Master. Anything for you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Okay then. I hope everybody enjoyed the chapter. I definitely enjoyed writing it. If you don't already know, this is a collaboration project which means there are other parts, by other writers to read. So please, if you want to fully understand what's going on be sure to read their parts. The links are on my profile.

I know a few of you are curious about my other works, I'll be posting a short note in the form of a chapter in the coming days regarding everything so that you all know how things are likely to flow from here on out.

But back to the matter at hand. First I'll update you all on what positions have been filled, will be filled and are available.

Combat - (4/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review

Security - (2/4 accepted) 0 reserved, 1 in review

Research - (2/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review

Infiltration - (3/5 accepted) 0 reserved, 0 in review

Support - (2/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 1 in review

So hopefully this clears up what's available and what's not available.

 **Update:** This is a notice regarding all OC submissions. A deadline has been set for March 1st. We kindly ask that all OCs be submitted by this deadline so that we can get to planning full arcs. Your cooperation is much appreciated. So again, that's March 1st for all OCs. Also Creators are now able to submit to 3 guilds within the Summit Project. So if you've already created 2 OCs feel free to make another for a guild you haven't submitted to as yet.

As far as the OCs that I'd like to see. As of right now, either male or female is still fine. We had an issue where a lot of the OCs I received were all just really nice people who had no reason to want to be a part of a dark guild. So I'll mention once more, this is a dark guild. Why/How they ended up in a dark guild is crucial to not only their acceptance, but my portrayal of them. There are a multitude of possibilities for dark guild OCs. Even good or cheery people can be dark mages if the 'Why' is sufficient. I very briefly showed three different types of personalities, but keep in mind that all of these three have much more to them than I showed in this short chapter.

I'll very briefly say, I have a slayer position still available. And it can't be a god slayer.

I can't thank you all enough for the support you showed last chapter. I know a few months ago, I got a message about review responses and why I don't respond in chapter. Honestly, it just never occurred to me. I usually message people when they review, but if you'd like 'in chapter review responses', I'd be okay with that. It's not really an issue to me either way. More importantly, thank you to everyone supporting this project.

 **Credits:** These are the OCs that appeared this chapter. Be sure to tell me if I messed up your OCs portrayal. I'd like to knock out the kinks as soon as possible. If your OC didn't appear this chapter, there are a number of reasons for that. First and foremost, the teams aren't completed so I can't be certain of a lot of different things. Secondly, a combination of laziness and time cut my planning short. If you want to message me and ask when they might be introduced, you can do that, but be aware that I may not have an answer as of yet for some people.

Max Copperfield - Me

Kyula Bellarmina – Condor-K

Claude Corleon – AkumaXHwaorang

Violet Bell – WendyDokuro

Thanks for reading again. Take Care.


	3. The Skalds

**August 16th, X799, Evening, Dewberry**

The people of Dewberry went on through the night in merriment, completely unaware that in the shadows of their town moved two people who were primed for causing mayhem and destruction. Claude and Kyula were on an assignment without the rest of their team. They had been dispatched to take care of a mission by Grace herself, while they'd usually take missions directly from their team's leader, their Skald, Ash Revontheus. He seen them off on their mission briefly before they left and as usual, he had little to say, save for the fact that he expected success.

"We wasted too much time Kyula," snipped Claude. "I won't go down with you if Ash finds out you messed around on this mission."

"You worry too much Claude," added Kyula as she rolled her eyes. "And besides. Our mission said to take out him and his subordinates, so we didn't really waste any time."

She could hear him grumbling behind her as they slipped from shadow to shadow avoiding detection, but Kyula was just barely focused on her team mate's noisiness as she was looking forward to the battle ahead.

The mission's description detailed a few points to take note of. Waste no time. Leave the people of Dewberry out of it to avoid unnecessary attention for the time being. Kill Captain Nightwood and his subordinates. Be wary of his take over magic. The first few points went right over her head, but the last point sent her into near ecstasy. A new opponent. A new magic. Nothing could be better.

"Are you listening?" Claude half-yelled.

They had posted themselves in the shadows of the only inn in town and were doing their best to not draw the attention of their target. But Kyula's excitement had almost gotten the better of her and she was seething with a lust for battle and excitement.

"What?" she hissed in aggravation.

"We need to be calm to complete this mission with no issues," he began. "Our instructions were to leave Dewberry out of this battle so if you blow our cover, tearing through this town won't be in our favor."

"So then what's your plan?" she snapped. "I don't want to sit around all day waiting for him to leave the inn. And then what would you have me do about fighting in the town?"

Claude thought over his team mate's words. She was right. How were they planning on getting the captain out of the town without drawing attention? A compromise had to be made in some way and with a shrug and a smile which startled his team mates he stood to his feet and walked over to the inn's back wall.

There he placed a hand on the wall, slowly tightened it into a fist while imbuing it with just a little magic and pushed forward breaking a hole in the wall.]

Claude stepped into the brightly lit common room, while the people within the inn watched in shock as a cloaked figure walked in through a new hole.

"What're you do-" began one of the patrons, before Kyula stepped, placed a finger to her lips and shushed him.

"We've come to see the Rune Knight Captain," said Claude. "Please point us in his direction and no one will be harmed."

The room was quiet for a moment, but eventually one of the patrons pointed to the staircase.

Claude gave a courteous nod before heading up to the staircase with Kyula in tow.

As they walked up the staircase, they found themselves in a little hallway with each of the doors closing as they passed them. They stopped at the only door which had been closed from before they reached the top of the staircase and exchanged a glance with one another before Kyula moved to cut a hole.

However, just before she moved closer to the door, Claude felt a surge of magic from inside and stepped in front of the door and moved Kyula aside as he tried to ready his magic instead. Moments later, a gigantic figure crashed through the door and into Claude, sending both of them barreling through the inn's second story wall, through the air and near the town's entrance.

Claude's body landed with a thud and his eyes locked with the figure before him. There stood an eight foot tall giant with dark pants and a shirtless frame. It held 2 large broadswords and on top of the tan skinned figure's head was an animal's skull.

The figure towered over Claude who was in the process of sitting himself up and rubbing his head.

"That hurt," he hissed out in pain. "And here I thought we were the under handed ones."

"Better you than me," teased Kyula as she landed just behind the figure. "But at least this way we don't have to worry about the town."

Claude mocked her from the ground as he stood to his feet and the giant skulled figure charged him immediately.

* * *

 **August 16th, X799, Evening, The Scorch**

Grace was currently in the bottom floor of her tower within the Scorch. On this floor, was a room which she used to call meetings for her elite guild mates. The Skalds. She had called the meeting on short notice, so she was certain they wouldn't all show up tonight, but they'd receive their orders one way or another. Of that she was certain.

She had already dismissed Violet to go and play with other members of the guild so that she could speak seriously with the Skalds. But none of them had shown up yet and her patience was wearing thin.

The raven-haired guild master was moments away from searching for them personally, something they certainly wouldn't be happy about, when one of the Skalds entered the room.

With a sigh of frustration, she watched as the woman before her took a seat to Grace's left. The purple haired woman was a little taller than Grace. Her hair was kept in a low ponytail while her bangs hung over her forehead. The pale-skinned woman wore tight, black pants that were tucked into black, ankle boots with silver buckles across them. She had on a grey button-up shirt which matched her eyes and was tucked in. Hanging from her neck was a skinny, black tie. She had on a pair of plastic, black-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat hung over her arm.

She had draped the coat over her seat and placed her glasses before on the table before her.

The woman smiled brightly at Grace and in the same breath, snipped out, "Is there a reason I have to waste my time with a meeting in the middle of my research?"

Her grey eyes met Grace's cold blue ones and she sighed deeply before rephrasing her question. "I would like to get this over with as soon as possible."

Grace let loose a small chuckle and then simply said, "Better than usual, I guess."

"Even if you're in a rush Thea, we're waiting for the rest to show up," said Grace. She could tell the idea didn't sit well with Thea, so she quickly added "So you'll have to sit tight for a bit."

Thea Amsel served as one of the two Skalds who came from the Research Division. So like her counterpart she spent a massive amount of time buried in research, developing new technology or simply testing out new theories on unwitting and poor souls.

She grumbled a bit more before she turned to Grace and asked, "Well then where is Michael?" she asked in her most vicious voice possible.

As if by saying his name, he'd come forward, the Skald known as Michael Borne walked through the doorway. Although due to his tall, lanky frame the 7'8" giant had to duck under the entrance into the meeting room.

"I keep saying we should raise all of the door frames," the giant man half whispered.

His pale skin clashed with his all black clothing which consisted of a singular piece of black cloth which was draped over his right shoulder, looped around his waist then split and wrapped tightly around his legs forming pants. On his wrists were also several silver arm bracelets. And to go along with the eccentricity of his tall appearance his long brown hair had been tied into countless braids which hung very low and his ears were pointed at the very tips. His all white guild mark could be seen in the center of his chest.

"We can't just change all the doorways to make you happy," hissed Thea.

"Why not?" answered Michael quietly.

Thea's grey eyes met his Hazel eyes and very briefly Thea considered all the pros and cons of killing the man. Some days they were on the same page and quickly concocted some of the most inventive ideas and other days they'd argue just for the sake of arguing. Today seemed to be the latter.

"You're a comedian now?" Thea said with the utmost amount of fake enthusiasm. "I had no idea. Come on then. Share some more jokes."

A wicked smile broke out on his face and he said, "Oh. Okay then. Have you heard the one where I gut that man you've been experimenting on and hang his entrails over your door?"

Her eyes narrowed and she shot back, "Nooo. How about the one where I drag your loved ones through the fort? Oh Wait! I forgot. No one loves you."

A sinister darkness seemed to overtake Michael's hand, but before he could move he felt Grace's presence somehow become even more sinister and quickly quieted down.

"Not the time nor the place I suppose," said Michael as he took his seat opposite Thea.

"You all give me a headache," sighed Grace.

She was pinching the bridge of her nose and trying to relax before any more members showed up, but of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Wooo!" came a voice from outside the meeting room. Moments later a 6 foot tall, severely muscular man with spiky electric blue hair and yellow eyes burst into the room. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt, washed-out jeans and gray sneakers. But oddly enough he had a 3 foot length of bark with bite marks in his hand. The man plopped down beside Thea, almost launching the smaller woman from her seat with the sheer force of his sitting, much to her annoyance.

"This is delicious!" he said in a near manic voice. He seemed genuinely excited to be at the meeting, but even more so to be eating, which he was quite literally always doing.

"You couldn't stop eating for even a few minutes Axon?" asked Michael dryly.

"Nope!" yelled Axon. "Why would I? There's tons of good stuff to eat everywhere.

Knowing he would get an answer like that, Michael was already waving off the bulky man and awaiting Grace's instructions.

"Well maybe we should get started," said Grace.

"What?" Thea practically spit out. It was obvious only 3 of Grace's 7 Skalds had shown up for the meeting and she wasn't exceptionally pleased that she was one of them.

"If only 3 are going to be here for the meeting, then I certainly don't need to expend any more here," said Thea as she stood to her feet.

Once more a feeling of viciousness overtook the room. One fierce enough for Axon to even slow down his eating for a moment as a sweat drop formed on his forehead.

"Sit," Grace stated plainly.

Thea returned to her seat and awaited Grace's instructions, something which Thea wasn't pleased with.

"I was only expecting 4 of you to even make it to this meeting. The Departed and Gerulf are all much too far to respond to my summons on such short notice, but I've already spoken to them. As for Rose. They've already received their orders and left on assignment."

"The only one missing from our numbers is The Blood Acolyte," added Grace. "But they too were far and I didn't expect them to be on time for this meeting."

However, much to her and everyone's surprise, the mage known by that moniker had just returned to the base. And by a stroke of luck he had made it in time for the meeting.

The doors to the room opened quietly and a man with Ash with disheveled spikey white hair walked in. His sharp and angular face had crimson colored eyes etched into them. His teeth were unnaturally sharp and he wore an open red and black trench coat with an upturned collar and two tails. Underneath he was shirtless, thereby exposing his well-toned and trained body. The left sleeve of the jacket was normally ripped off and he had on a single silver arm guard on his right arm. He also wore a pair of baggy black trousers with a grey belt that were usually tucked into steel toed combat boots. As his right eye was blind, he wore an eye patch over it.

He took his seat on the same side as Michael, but with a space in between them that usually belong to another Skald.

"My apologies for being late," he said in dry tone.

A pleased look came across Grace's face. On short notice, 4 out of 7 wasn't bad and even still they didn't seem to be in their usual array of confrontational. But she mostly attributed that to the other 3's absence.

"No worries Ash," said Grace. "Let us begin. As you all know, the Summit Alliance has remained a constant hindrance to our everyday workings for years. Over a decade ago, this guild was on the fore front of carnage spread all across Fiore. After I became the master, I decided to bring us to the shadows in the form of a puppeteer. I felt it was the best way to protect the guild from unwanted attention."

Grace stood to her feet and began walking around the room as she continued her discussion. "I believed it to be a means for which we could do more than survive. It was our means of facilitating the things that every guild member wanted. We grew to have a network more expansive than most can comprehend. Even now, the Summit Alliance doesn't understand just how far our reach extends. And that will be their downfall."

Her last words drew their attention. It was as if a light came alive in the people around her.

"You heard correctly," began Grace. "From here on out, our main goal is the annihilation of the Summit Alliance. I let them grow in arrogance for too long and now they've added another guild to their ranks."

"So we'll be fighting them head on?" asked Ash Revontheus as he tried to contain his excitement. The man was usually well-reserved save for at the prospect of a good fight.

"That's correct Ash," said Grace. "But I'm no fool. As we are now, we lack the man power to actively engage all of them in combat. Our first priority will be increasing our war potential."

"Does that mean we're revisiting the Golem project?" asked Thea in an almost hopeful voice.

Surprised at Thea's sudden excitement as well, Grace almost didn't answer. "No," she began. "I don't want to waste resources trying to duplicate that project. Instead, our focus will be on finding means of natural increasing the strength of members and finding more people who would cling to our cause."

"To that end, Axon, the Security Division will redouble its efforts to locate the old masters Forsaken Grounds. Ash, The Combat Division will focus on subjugation of promising war potentials. Thea and Michael, you will both pool your extra efforts into perfecting simulcast hyper-magic."

"What of the other Divisions?" asked Thea.

"Yes. You mentioned that Rose is on a mission," said Michael.

"Rose was already given his assignment," said Grace. "It's crucial in understanding the Summit Alliance's strength and the Support Division will do as they always do. They'll be the pillars upon which you all stand."

She took her seat once more and stared into the eyes of all her present Skalds. "We can't afford to remain in the shadows any longer," said Grace. We will strike so that they can remember who Ragnarok's Call is. If they need a reminder, we'll give it to them. If they fail to see us as a threat, we'll make them regret it and for those who would dare question our might, we'll erase them."

She sat quietly now awaiting their answers. It was without question that they'd act under her orders, but for any leader, the support of one's subordinates was crucial before heading into a battlefield.

"It's about time," said Thea as a genuinely happy grin splashed across her face. "I was actually starting to get bored. Any longer and I'd end up pale like this walking undead."

As if they returned to playful banter, Michael quipped, "The short one has a point. I too was beginning to feel cooped up here."

"Suddenly there's so much to look forward to," said Ash as he seemed to be reveling in future fights from his seat.

"I'm always ready for a fight Grace," added Axon between bites of his now steel pipe.

Grace smiled a devilish grin as she began to recall all of the events which had led up to this moment, the most important being the moment she looked up into her old master's eyes and to herself she thought, _"I'll remind the world who Ragnarok's Call was, Master. It'll be done on my terms now."_

* * *

 **August 16th, X799, Evening, Dewberry**

Claude had already thrown aside his cloak which was in tatters now. His eyes narrowed on the figure barreling towards him and he planted his foot firm as he struck forward at the air and shouted, "Kata First Stance!"

Magic which had centered on his fist flew forward and collided with the Rune Knight's sternum, effectively winding the giant and forcing him to double over.

The Rune Knight Captain wheezed as he gasped for air, his eyes glaring through the holes in the skull on his head while, Claude maintained his stance and circled his opponent.

"Ugh, it's such a bore watching you fight Claude," teased Kyula as she watched. "Either kill him or die, so I can have a go."

The notion of fighting opponents by themselves, was something that many members of Ragnarok's Call shared as they were not only confident in their skills, but in their ability to kill enemies with ease.

"Bison Nightwood!" called Claude to his opponent. "Stand to your feet please. I'm on a schedule."

The Rune Knight Captain darted forward instantly and Claude moved to intercept his attack, but before Bison could be countered, he hurled one of his broadswords at Claude while continuing to close in on his enemy with the other.

Claude jumped sideways reflexively just as the blade passed under him. Before he landed it pierced a stone boulder and shattered it. But before Claude had a chance to land, Bison was just above him aiming his blade for Claude's head.

With just enough time to maneuver, Claude twisted his guarded shoulder into the trajectory of the attack. The giant blade crashed into Claude and sent him crashing along the ground. The dark mage quickly regained his composure and eventually pulled himself into a sliding stop.

He could hear Bison charging him and struck the ground as he whispered, "Ghost Uppercut."

Bison closed on him again with the full intent of cleaving his opponent's head, but a few meters before he collided with Claude, a fist comprised of magic crashed into the captain's jaw twisting his body through the air before he crashed into the ground.

"Kata Second Stance!" he barked as his magic focused in his fist and then he struck forward. Claude's fist buried into the captain's stomach forcing Bison to spit blood.

Claude grabbed hold of the man by his skull from where he lay on the ground and crushed a right hook into his jaw.

Bone could be heard cracking in the captain's jaw, but that didn't stop Claude's assault. He lifted, the captain by the skull on his head again and buried an uppercut in his jaw.

This blow shattered a piece of the skull itself and Bison's face could just barely be seen beneath it.

His right eye was blue and held an old scar over it. His red hair was in a tangled, bloody mess now and he seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness.

"I know who you all are," coughed out Bison as he wiped blood from his lip. "This means I was doing the right thing.

Kyula's eyes narrowed on the man her team mate was fighting. It was clear something about him wasn't right at the moment as his magic was acting up.

"Limiter Release!" roared Bison. Claude released Bison and a slight scowl formed on his face. He preferred to just get jobs done, but in that instant all of Bison's muscles were flooded with magic and he knew the battle wasn't done just yet. It was a magic that Bison Nightwood's family had employed for generations. It allowed a person to push themselves to the limit in exchange for draining their life and in the worst case causing their death.

Kyula landed beside Claude instantly upsetting the man even more. "Don't be like that," she teased. "Anyone can get a power up if they exchange their life; he's being a spoiled sport since he lost. Plus, we don't have time to be picky since we're on a clock here."

Claude didn't have much time to argue as Bison had already begun charging them with his broadsword in hand.

He swung at both of his opponents in an effort to cleave them in half and Kyula held off the attack with her crystalline blade. But Bison's raw strength bore done on her blade and slowly began to crack the blade. However, Claude had already returned to his Kata's First Stance and struck the now monstrous Bison's sternum.

His first punch landed and where it had winded the captain before, he stood firm now and poured even more strength into his attack.

Claude jumped up immediately and struck Bison's throat forcing him to retreat and buy Kyula a moment.

She built up her magic a bit and then slammed her hand on the ground forming an emerald green magic circle. "Verdant Clutch!" she practically laughed out as buds of green bloomed and turned into ensnaring vines which entangled Bison.

A magic circle took shape in front of Claude as he began striking the circle. He buried a final punch into the attack and yelled, "Continued Strike!"

Claude knew the attack wouldn't be as strong as last time, but he felt certain it would suffice for taking down the target. However, Bison simply flexed his muscles, allowing the vines to tear into them until they snapped under the pressure. This allowed him to use the broad side of the sword to take the brunt of the attack.

A small grin took shape on Kyula's face. She had been interested to see what magic the captain had and truthfully she had been left unimpressed, but the notion that an opponent had the battle prowess to do anything to keep on fighting made her weirdly happy.

A pink magical circle formed in front of her and she poured magic into it as she yelled, "Neon Bomber!"

A series of vibrantly colored spheres were launched at Bison and detonated on impact. He blocked most of them with his sword once more before dashing forward at Kyula.

"Ghost uppercut!" barked Claude. Moments later a fist crashed into Bison's cheek. The force caught him by surprise and he was instantly dropped to his knees.

However, he wasn't stopped for long as he quickly stood to his feet. "I won't stop!" he yelled. "What I'm doing is important!"

He seemed to be even more furious than before. "The children. The people. They all need a place where things like your guild don't exist!"

"The children?" laughed Kyula. "Are you the one who filled that stupid boy's head with the notions of family!"

Bison went cold. His mind wandered to the wide eyed boy he'd met.

"What did you do?" he asked bitterly.

"I didn't do anything that you haven't already imagined was done," she said coyly.

Bison burst forward with a new found purpose and rage. However, blinded by his fury, he didn't see Claude poised to intercept him.

"Kata Third Stance," he said calmly.

He squared his stance and struck the giant man's heart as he flew towards Kyula. The captain slowed to a walk and then even further to a stumble until he was just before Kyula at his knees.

His eyes bloodied as his heart began to writhe in pain from within his chest.

Kyula drew her crystalline blade and placed it against his throat.

"Don't take it personally," she smiled and with that she drew her blade against his throat ending the captain's life.

They were quiet for a moment ensuring that he was actually dead and they only moved after his magic released and he returned to his normal 6 foot stature. His body still wore his captain's armor, but on his dead body it all felt sad. That is, for anyone, but his opponents who were relieved. They had completed their mission with relatively low amounts of damage.

"Let's head back," said Claude.

"Yeah, I'm ready to get home as well," answered Kyula.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So that's all for now. I'm really looking forward to introducing more mages and getting further into the story. I'm really glad you're all here reading and I want you all to know that I really appreciate all of the reviews and messages and what not. Thank you all for the continued support.

A few of you are curious about my own personal stories as this collaboration project has been underway for close to a month now. I am actively working on the story lines every character will be experiencing. I want everything to be in order before advancing any further.

Now, there's a little unpleasantness to address. I don't know the specifics, but it would seem that a few readers happened upon another collaboration within the Fairy Tail SYOC community. After reading they accused the authors of ripping off the idea of a collaboration from those in the Summit Project. That is untrue. The reverse is also untrue. The idea of a collaboration isn't unique to any one of us. Working with people on this site is just a normal progression after encountering people who are genuinely kind and supportive. To point out a further note, this fellow collaboration did indeed start before this one.

Introduced OCs:

Bison Nightwood - Origm2012

Thea Amsel - MyDearWatson

Axon Walker - KingKatsu

Ash Revontheus - Death Obelisk

Michael Borne - Origm2012

Be sure to tell me if my portrayal of your OCs was in correct or if you have any pointers for them or if you have an idea of how they might interact or react to another person.

This is the update on what roles are filled and also a reminder that March 1st is the deadline for all OCs.

Combat - (5/5 accepted) 0 reserved, 0 in review

Security - (4/4 accepted) 0 reserved, 0 in review

Research - (3/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 1 in review

Infiltration - (3/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review

Support - (3/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review


End file.
